Comment on the acting. This is the most impressed I've been by Scarlett Johansson in a film since Lost in Translation. Since then she's seemed to be not much more that a pretty face acting as placeholder for [female lead]. She's appeared in lots of respectable films but never struck me as being anything more than adequate (e.g. The Prestige).

I'd agree with that, In fact I've never been particularly impressed by her in anything until this. I really enjoyed her performance.

Before i read through this thread, i just need to do a quick post. Just got back from seeing this and absolutely loved it! Great movie, with fantastio action and fx. Not perfect by any means but a wonderful summer blockbuster. After John carter and Battleship as well, it's been an awesome summer so far!

Before i read through this thread, i just need to do a quick post. Just got back from seeing this and absolutely loved it! Great movie, with fantastio action and fx. Not perfect by any means but a wonderful summer blockbuster. After John carter and Battleship as well, it's been an awesome summer so far!

Glad you liked it DK but given the sheer amount of action anf fx on display there was no doubt in my mind that you would.Good to hear you are going back to the cinema more often these days rather than justing waiting for blu ray as well.

As for John Carter and Battleship...thought John Carter was only average,couldnt be bothered watching Battleship as it looks awful.

Avengers is one of the best summer blockbusters iv seen in years.I have a feeling TDKR will be even better though.

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'' Iv played Oskar Schindler, Michael Collins, Rob Roy Mcgregor, even ZEUS for gods sake! No one is going to believe me to be a green grocer! ''

Before i read through this thread, i just need to do a quick post. Just got back from seeing this and absolutely loved it! Great movie, with fantastio action and fx. Not perfect by any means but a wonderful summer blockbuster. After John carter and Battleship as well, it's been an awesome summer so far!

Glad you liked it DK but given the sheer amount of action anf fx on display there was no doubt in my mind that you would.Good to hear you are going back to the cinema more often these days rather than justing waiting for blu ray as well.

As for John Carter and Battleship...thought John Carter was only average,couldnt be bothered watching Battleship as it looks awful.

Avengers is one of the best summer blockbusters iv seen in years.I have a feeling TDKR will be even better though.

Well it's a shame you didnt think much of John Carter, i really loved that. Wonderful pulp sci fi. Battleship is really good! I'd say that's my favourite out of the three (seriously!) it's got a great sense of humour and Taylor Kitsch is much better than he was in John carter (although i thought he was good enough in that).

So many great moments in The Avengers. before i get onto that though, let me start with the few negatives;

The middle section on the aircraft carrier definitely went on too long. The scale of the movie didn't feel epic enough until the last act. Although in a way i guess part of the point is that it makes the final act even more spectacular.

Black Widow and Hawkeye are very dull IMO. I was hoping they would get their chance to come into their in this, but their characters are so flat! Even with attempts to humanise natasha, her performance is pretty one note.

The actual alien race seemed a bit throwaway. perhaos could have benefitted with a bit more time getting to know them. Essentially they were just fodder in the movie, and could've been a little more.

The aspect ratio bugged me. At first i thought the cinema was projecting it wrong and i checked with a member of staff who told me that's the way it was shot. I was expecting it to be full widescreen and fill the screen. (please tell me the cinema was projecting it wrong, as it was pretty distracting at first.)

On to some of the many positives:

Hulk was fabulous! Just loved every moment with him and his action scenes were immense.

The city finale ranks up there with one of the best extended action sequences in recent memory. Up there with Transformers 3 in terms of epic big city destruction. Awesome stuff!

Almost all of the visual FX were perfect. Only some ropey green screen at times but that happens in most movies.

The main four gave great performances! I love Chris Evans as Cap, he definitely is perfect casting,

I think what was really so amazing about The Avengers (among other things) was just how perfect a summer blockbuster it was. I can't remember the last time I went to the cinema and had such unabashed fun. If other fimls live up to hype like this did: this could be the best summer of film possibly ever.

I think what was really so amazing about The Avengers (among other things) was just how perfect a summer blockbuster it was. I can't remember the last time I went to the cinema and had such unabashed fun. If other fimls live up to hype like this did: this could be the best summer of film possibly ever.

Well done Mr. Whedon.

I agree but i'd add Battleship and John Carter in there. It's been a great summer so far!

I think what was really so amazing about The Avengers (among other things) was just how perfect a summer blockbuster it was. I can't remember the last time I went to the cinema and had such unabashed fun. If other fimls live up to hype like this did: this could be the best summer of film possibly ever.

Well done Mr. Whedon.

I agree but i'd add Battleship and John Carter in there. It's been a great summer so far!

I also quite liked John Carter, it has been so unfairly criticised, but its not in the same league as Avengers.

John Carter is nowhere near as good a movie as Avengers.Although to be fair, my viewing of it was ruined by having to see it in sodding 3D (No normal screenings of it at the cinema i went to).Might give it another chance when it hits dvd.

I was glad that most cinemas gave the option of 3D or not for Avengers where i live and glad i saw it in the normal way (Seriously hollywood,all we want is massive screen and great surround sound and a good film of course!).Wont be seeing Battleship as it just looks like Transformers 4.

The Dark Knight Rises will rule them all this summer though.

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'' Iv played Oskar Schindler, Michael Collins, Rob Roy Mcgregor, even ZEUS for gods sake! No one is going to believe me to be a green grocer! ''

I must say I really loved this film, the way Whedon kept building up the tension and then giving us the relief of some really comic moments. I thought all the characters played their part in the film which must be difficult with all those big characters. The final test that it passed with flying colours, was that I left the cinema with a massive smile on my face!

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If real is what you can feel, smell, taste and see, then 'real' is simply electrical signals interpreted by your brain

I think what was really so amazing about The Avengers (among other things) was just how perfect a summer blockbuster it was. I can't remember the last time I went to the cinema and had such unabashed fun. If other fimls live up to hype like this did: this could be the best summer of film possibly ever.

Well done Mr. Whedon.

Bloody loved it! Haven't been to a screening where people clap during the film for a long time.

1. There was no focus on any one character - every hero had their chance to shine, even Black Widow and Hawkeye had ample screen time. And I can't fault the performances, there wasn't a dud one there IMO. 2. I needn't have worried about Ruffalo's Banner and Hulk, both were great. Ruffalo played him more relaxed than Norton but that kinda made sense as Banner is more in control of the Hulk now. As mentioned before, I liked the chemistry between Banner and Stark - I don't know if that would've come off so well with Norton in the role. 3. The seemingly endless New York showdown was great, I wasn't expecting it to have as much screentime as it did (even though that's what the film was building up to) but I was so glad a decent chunk was devoted to it. Something that's been lacking I think from recent Marvel efforts. 4. Baring one or two dodgyish green screen moments the visuals were excellent. 5. Easily the 2 funniest moments came from Hulk towards the end - genuine laugh out loud moments. I just wish there were a few more of those in the first hour or so.

and not major criticisms, just a few things that niggled:

1. The whole SHIELD base thing with Selvig at the start seemed like a weak opening - I know it ramped up with Loki's intro but was expecting something more explosive for some reason. 2. Would have liked a cameo or 2 by characters that could have appeared in future films, just to sow some seeds if nothing else. 3. Would've also liked some connection to the Hulk film, references to Ross or Blonski maybe. The closest we got was the 'other interest parties' line by Fury I think. 4. If there was a plan to manufacture weapons based on Tesseract tech (I know Fury was resisting the idea) surely the Americans would've developed them long before now. Zola developed stuff from 40's tech within a couple of years and they had both Zola and the Tesseract in their possession, not to mention Stark working on it. 5. As possibly my favourite Marvel film so far, Thor... I felt that the big guy could've had a bit more to do than just twirl his hammer. The big bad was his brother after all.

Is that even post credits though? I thought that one took place before the credits roll, making it weirdly different to all the other ones. Please correct me if im wrong!

You're right. It was before the credits. Which is weird becaues the movie ends on a wrong note (i.e. something that doesn't have a connection with what went before). Plus that scene never pays off. Maybe they had a different concept for The Avengers back then with the Hulk as the villains instead of a team member.

Is that even post credits though? I thought that one took place before the credits roll, making it weirdly different to all the other ones. Please correct me if im wrong!

You're right. It was before the credits. Which is weird becaues the movie ends on a wrong note (i.e. something that doesn't have a connection with what went before). Plus that scene never pays off. Maybe they had a different concept for The Avengers back then with the Hulk as the villains instead of a team member.

If you've seen 'Marvel One-Shot: The Consultant' there is a bit of pay off there. The Security Council wanted SHIELD to get Blonsky in the Avengers initiative, so to avoid that outcome SHIELD sent Stark in as a patsy knowing he'd wind Ross up so much he'd never agree to handing Blonsky over.

You could argue that this storyline was created just to explain that scene in TIH so not have people wondering what the hell it was about. But the proper pay off should have been in one of the feature films, a quick cameo by Ross in IM2 or the Avengers would have been enough.

Aha, interesting. So if we're gonna put together an order to watch the Marvel movies thus far, i think that scene at the end of TIH might make sense if that we're the last movie to watch before The Avengers perhaps? Or not, what do you guys think? I wanna do a big rewatch for when the Blu comes out, the only one i dont own yet is Iron Man.

Including the Marvel One Shots (on the Thor and Captain America Blu Rays)

Iron Man Iron Man 2 (stop before end credits, ignore that post credits scene) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer Thor The Incredible Hulk (stop before the last scene) The Consultant Captain America

Yeah that looks about right to me. Of course the end of Iron Man 2 happens at the same time of TIH and Thor. Hence why Coulson leaves mid way through IM2 and you also see new footage of Hulk fighting at the university on the Shield screens when he meets with Fury at the end.

Including the Marvel One Shots (on the Thor and Captain America Blu Rays)

Iron Man Iron Man 2 (stop before end credits, ignore that post credits scene) A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to Thor's Hammer Thor The Incredible Hulk (stop before the last scene) The Consultant Captain America

That should do it, I think

Not film obviously, but I found the Avenger's Prelude comics helped to bridge the films a little and set up some SHIELD and Security Council stuff in the film. There was also an iphone app I downloaded, an interactive comic thing, that explained the mark VII armour and that whole bracelet thing that RDJ sported at the end.

ORIGINAL: fuzzy Not film obviously, but I found the Avenger's Prelude comics helped to bridge the films a little and set up some SHIELD and Security Council stuff in the film. There was also an iphone app I downloaded, an interactive comic thing, that explained the mark VII armour and that whole bracelet thing that RDJ sported at the end.

Are they an online thing?

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So, sir, we let him have it right up! And I have to report, sir, he did not like it, sir.

ORIGINAL: fuzzy Not film obviously, but I found the Avenger's Prelude comics helped to bridge the films a little and set up some SHIELD and Security Council stuff in the film. There was also an iphone app I downloaded, an interactive comic thing, that explained the mark VII armour and that whole bracelet thing that RDJ sported at the end.

Are they an online thing?

You can download them through the Marvel app on a smartphone/tablet, or straight from the marvel site I think. The app is free and so is issue 1. There's 8 issues in total.

The other Ironman MarkVII armour app on the other hand is a bit of cheesy fun, but it's free and does give an explanation to the bracelets and new armour.

The paperback collecting the full set is out next week I think. There's also 'The Road to the Avengers' that collects all the in-continuity comics released around the other films. A Black Widow title out soon too that bridges the gap between IM2 and Avengers.